My parents played Astral Weeks for me when I was about 7 years old. It was the first “proper” album that I heard when I was old enough to think about music in any kind of way. 11 or 12 would have been both too young and too old. I was still a small enough kid to just think of it as music that sounded good, without being so young that I couldn’t think about what I liked about it and why I felt it sounded good. It’s been special to me ever since and I’m grateful it was able to be my intro to caring about music.

Van Morrison - Beside You.

But listen to the whole Astral Weeks album in sequence before picking and choosing songs.

Thanks for reminding me to listen to that album more!

That one I can deal with, because it’s only a minute long and is clearly meant to confuse the listener, by which standard it does its job very well. I wouldn’t listen to it on purpose but I can’t usually be bothered to skip it. For some reason it reminds me more of a short cutscene in a video game than anything else.

I have more of a problem with its namesake, Honey Pie. I respect the Beatles for their understanding of British music history and their place in it, and their love for the music that represented that tradition, but I don’t need to show that respect by repeatedly listening to their take on music hall.

Agreed. Excellent album but very much imperfect, which is the point.

I would get on perfectly fine without Birthday.

An album - Californication. Damn, I played it to pieces. But I first heard it at a joyous time in my life, and I’d want to hear it in that setting again, so maybe that’s just asking for heaven. Second choice, Astral Weeks.

A band - anything by The Beatles. We all seem to get drip-fed bits and pieces of Beatles music over the years, and we hear bands inspired by them, and I can’t work out how it felt to hear them for the first time when those sounds were entirely new. Especially as a young adult, not as a kid being told rationally about why they were important.

Way easier to answer in terms of albums and not have to focus on the songs, but:

Into My Arms - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Avalanche - Leonard Cohen

Refuge of the Roads - Joni Mitchell

Repeating what others said here, but why Taylor Swift? I’d have answered the question, even if it’s an old chestnut, but the Taylor Swift thing threw me.

Mark Lanegan - Field Songs

Mark Knopfler - Postcards from Paraguay (embezzlement).

Great shout with 1952 Vincent Black Lightning.